(formerly Mastico, L'Intrepide) Ketch (2m).
L/B:
60 × 12 (18.3m × 3.7m). Tons:
64. Hull:
wood. Comp.:
64. Arm.:
4 guns. Built:
France; 1798.
Built for Napoleon's Egyptian campaign in 1798, following the defeat of the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile, the bomb-ketch L'Intrépide was sold to Tripoli. On October 31, 1803, the renamed Mastico took part in the capture of
USS Philadelphia when the frigate ran aground off Tripoli Harbor. Two months later, while en route to Constantinople, she was captured by
USS Enterprise, under Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, and taken into the American fleet as Intrepid. To deny Tripoli any chance of refloating Philadelphia themselves, Commodore Edward Preble decided to burn the ship. Renamed Intrepid and commanded by Decatur, Intrepid slipped into the harbor on the night of February 16, 1804. Sixty of her crew overwhelmed Philadelphia's token crew and set the ship ablaze, with no casualties to themselves. Hearing of the brilliant feat, England's Lord Nelson proclaimed it "the most bold and daring act of the age." Intrepid lay idle at Syracuse until August, when it was decided to use her as a "floating volcano" to destroy the Tripolitan fleet at anchor. Packed with gunpowder and manned by twelve volunteers under Lieutenant Richard Somers, Intrepid entered the harbor on September 4. The ketch exploded prematurely, and there were no survivors.
U.S. Navy, DANFS.
